  Endowed with exceptional properties—transparency, strong resistance to scratches and chemical products, adaptability—Altuglas® is winning over industry as well as designers. As a result, the product has been transformed into a multitude of objects, large and small, in a wide variety of colors and styles. Take a look inside the PMMA Altuglas® style notebook…
Playing with light The first “visible” attribute of Altuglas® is its ability to direct light. The sheets, which are available in a variety of tints, lend themselves to a number of applications, including visual communication in the  form of shop signs and other signage, illuminated notice boards and display cases. “Visual communication is a field of particular interest to us,” explains Jean-Marc Biragnet, European Marketing Manager for Altuglas International. “Altuglas® is used to make storefront signs and can be purchased unit-by-unit or in large quantities, as was as the case when La Poste and Laforêt Immobilier selected Altuglas® for their locations.” This is where the strengths of Altuglas® really make the difference. - Sheets are made to order in the precise color chosen by the customer. A specific color associated with a brand (e.g., IBM blue or Ferrari red) can be replicated on demand.
- Altuglas® sheets diffuse light perfectly, making it possible to produce evenly lit shop signs at a lower cost. “Instead of being lit from behind with fluorescent tubes, these signs use sheets of light-emitting diodes (LED). Light is evenly distributed, individual sources of light remain invisible, and electricity consumption is greatly reduced,” explains Jean-Marc Biragnet. In short, the new Altuglas® shop signs are more esthetically pleasing and more energy efficient.
 The tinted transparency of Altuglas® has also won over lighting designers. A major trend in the 1960s and 1970s, it’s making a triumphant return today. Simply flip through design magazines and you’ll see that Altuglas® vintage lamps are riding high!
One material, a thousand different looks
Since Altuglas® can appear glossy, satiny, frosted or pearly, a number of designers have used Altuglas® as a “cover” for electrical appliances. A technique called coextrusion is used to forge a polymer plate and its protective Altuglas® film at the same time in order to create a modern refrigerator in intense red or metallic blue, for example. “To achieve a smooth, shiny surface, we can use a varnish or turn to Altuglas®. The latter is a more ecological solution, it’s available in a wide range of rich colors and  finishes, and it’s highly resistant to UV rays and scratches,” summarizes Caroline Bastien, General Manager of Altuglas® Resins Europe.
Altuglas® is also popular in automotive design, particularly for electric vehicles. In addition to being available in a wide variety of colors, it results in door panels and vehicle bodies that are lighter, more resistant to exterior damage and more esthetically pleasing than those made of standard plastic. The coextrusion technique is used here as well. A thin layer of Altuglas® applied to the surface of the ABS frame improves its appearance and makes it more resistant to scratches, UV rays and inclement weather. |
Ease of use makes Altuglas® suitable for a wide range of applications. It can be cut, worked like wood and polished like metal. In granular form, it can be molded and shaped at will, to make everything from an aerodynamic car tail-light to a modern set of salad utensils! In sheet form, it can also be thermoformed. “A sheet can be transformed into a bathtub or shower basin in just a few minutes, and then drilled without damage,” explains François Zafari, Technical and Sheet Research Manager for Altuglas International. 
Thanks to the creativity of designers, Altuglas® is blended seamlessly into virtually every aspect of our surroundings: from a powder compact by a major cosmetics brand to a Philippe Starck wind turbine, from window displays at Galeries Lafayette to modern furniture.
